[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2noQowyoKQ&w=500&h=307&rel=0]

I generally like French film director Claire Denis’ work. Her previous film set in an African country, 1988’s “Chocolat“–set in colonial French Cameroon–came out decent. She has now returned to an African subject again with her new film  “White Material,” which incorporate themes of land reform, child soldiers and the fate of whites in Africa. Mainstream Western critics have generally praised the film; for example, see here, here and here.

However, Naijablog’s Jeremy Weate–whose blog btw is a must-visit for those interested in things Nigerian—-went to see the film in London and  is not impressed with “White Material.”

Here are the highlights from Weate’s review:

… [I]t was one of the most awful French films I have seen in years, and certainly one of the worst European films set in Africa in recent times … The key artistic crime was an utter lack of context. [Isabella] Huppert plays [Maria Vial] the tenacious wife of the owner’s son who tries to hold on to the coffee plantation as civil war takes over. We are not told which African country it is; however, everything is in French …

The civil war consists of government troops (we can see the uniforms) and “rebels” – including the obligatory child soldiers – who are dressed in shabby uniforms they have presumably stolen.

The course of the film is the slow descent into Hell via tedious flashbacks. The brain has to spend vital time trying to work out how the flashbacks fit together. Maria’s disaffected son goes native, descending into the irrational and hanging out with the rebels. Its corny beyond belief …

The New Statesman calls it a “subtle post-colonial drama”. It is not. It is cliched in the extreme. It creates the most bastardised, de-contextualised version of Africa possible. It is Heart of Darkness thought-out by too many white people smoking Gitanes in Paris. I was left thinking: this is why France is so messed up on race and on Africa. The country seems to be stuck in 1970s repeat mode. The French view of Africa: anonymous black bodies cancelling each other out without sense, while the white heroine tries to save the place from itself. Don’t waste your time or your money on a dreadful film.

— Sean Jacobs